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Mum suggested we move off the road as the strollers and people were making it impossible to move or stop for a picture.

(Hannah Nestor) ()

I strongly believe this decision saved our lives, because less than a minute after we took the image we heard screaming.

My mum had her back to the road but I saw the huge white truck bouncing violently down the road. I couldn’t understand why it was shaking like that, until I saw the swarms of people running toward us screaming.

I watched as the truck mounted piles of people who had become trapped in a narrow area of the road. A wooden pavilion-type structure had forced the crowd that had been trying to flee up onto the footpath back onto the road and into the path of the truck.

I couldn’t see the driver’s face but I could make out his silhouette. As the crowd became stuck, I heard the trucks engine rev loudly as he accelerated in order to continue through the crowd for another 10 or so metres.

The last person I saw hit was a young man who lay lifeless on the road. None of the people who had been hit were moving and I assumed they were already dead.

The truck came to a stop just to the right of us, less than 10 metres [away].

People were pushing past mum and I, and we were beginning to get crushed. The crowd was storming toward the wall of the promenade and people where either jumping off the edge onto to the beach below or being pushed off by the crowd surge. I grabbed onto a flagpole and held my mum’s hand.

I knew if I didn’t grab onto something strong, that I would be crushed in the stampede or pushed off the edge of the promenade wall.

I was grabbed by a young girl who was screaming that her friend was missing. I pulled her toward a temporary barrier fence, before she was dragged away in another surge.

It felt like five seconds after the truck stopped in front that I saw two police officers opposite us draw their weapons and began shooting at the truck from its driver side and from the front, directly into the cabin window.

At this point we believed the police or the gunman’s fire was going to hit us in our backs, so everyone continued leaping from the promenade onto the gravel or rocks below.

I screamed at my mum to leap but she let go of my hand. I landed on the gravel far below. Mum recalls thinking I was badly injured from the fall. Mum began to panic and wouldn’t jump but a Frenchman told me he would help me catch her and he helped me break her fall.

Once [we were] both on the gravel, people began running into the water and swimming as far out as they could or they were running further down the beach, but others – including us – stayed to help catch the people being pushed down.

I ran and collected some large beach lounge cushions I'd seen and we tried to give people a softer surface to land on.

I saw many people who had injured themselves either in the stampede or after jumping from the wall. I saw a man with a badly broken leg and others being dragged or carried with injuries.

It wasn’t until the police began screaming for us all to run that the rest of us who had stayed to help ran. The only English I heard at this moment was “bomb”.

We ran up the beach about 200m before police began yelling at us the get against the walls. We crouched against the wall for five minutes or so.

Policemen in boats began yelling at the people in the water to swim back to shore and get against the wall. The police boat shone spotlights at all of us lined up against the wall.

This continued for a while until there was more screaming and people were running in all different directions. We ran all the way to Sporting Plage, a beach restaurant.

They had closed the doors before mum and I reached them so we took refuge in their outdoor dining area behind two large planters. We covered ourselves in lounge pillows and towels we had found.

We thought gunmen were coming up the beach so we hid there for 40 minutes, before a waiter came out of the restaurant and told us to come and take shelter inside.

Once inside over the next few hour we had two more crowd panics, during which we heard police yelling and people leaping from the promenade onto the tin roof of the beach restaurant.

It sounded like loud banging on the roof so we all ran to the back of the restaurant to the toilets. People were locking themselves in the stalls.

Police and paramedics continuously came in and out of the restaurant carrying the injured who had hurt themselves while leaping from the promenade wall.

Inside Sporting Plage, club staff were bringing water around to the huddled crowds. People were hiding in every section of the restaurant, including the kitchen.

We waited until 2:30am before we and five others were led by a policeman out of the restaurant. A waiter translated for us that the policeman was taking mum, myself and some parents with two children to taxis waiting above.

However when we reached the road there were no taxis in sight. Instead we were led up the promenade road through the carnage and bodies until we reached the truck.

We were motioned to have our hands raised and to walk slowly. Being walked past the bodies was horrific. I couldn't believe just how many people were dead. In some parts there were piles of six or more bodies.

When we reached the truck we were told to leave but given no direction as to where we should go. We tried to communicate in English with little help. We were left to stand against a wall and attempt to read a paper map I’d picked up on our way to the fireworks.

We began walking up a side road only to be again forced to run, when yelling broke out and a group of police officers drew their firearms.

Myself, mum and another couple leapt behind a concrete pillar and hid until the yelling stopped. That couple ended up running away and mum and I were again left alone to find our way.

It took us 40 minutes but we found our way back to the hotel at around 3:30. We are yet to have any communication from the Australian consulate/embassy.

Our families have been contacted and we are safe in our hotel in Nice.